HIV Antibody Testing in the Antenatal Clinic: the Views of the Consumers

Objective: to investigate the attitudes of parturient women to HIV antibody testing in the antenatal clinic. DESIGN; anonymous self completion questionnaire.

Subjects: 318 women attending antenatal clinic for their first booking appointment.

Settings: a central London hospital, UK.

Results: 58% of the women felt that testing should not be compulsory, 33% that it should. Sixty per cent felt that results of the test should be given as routine but 38% felt that they should only be given if requested. Fifty five per cent felt the HIV test was as important as all the other routine tests and 60% felt that they personally did not need to be tested. Only 44% wanted to speak to a midwife about the test, with 23% saying that they did not want to speak to anyone at all. The main reason given for accepting testing was concern about passing the virus on to the baby, which was also the main concern if the test was found positive. Few women (23%) felt that those identified as positive should be encouraged to terminate their pregnancy.

Conclusions: policy decisions around HIV testing should take into account the diversity of the needs and wants of this multicultural and multiracial group of consumers.